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Drusus Paternostra
Drusus Paternostra, also known as Tristan Poindextra, is a void master aboard the Black Legend, flagship of Rogue Trader Ferdinand Bismarck Machiavelli. He is a psyker mutant talented with divination and foresight, yet his ability is much hindered by the utter loathing he feels towards his mutation. Dilligent yet inconspicuous, Drusus has proven himself as an important member of the rogue trader's crew. History Early childhood Drusus was born into a poor void-born family on the Universe-class Mass Conveyor Fair Virgin Elynn of the Merchant Fleet Calixis. Its vast crew consisted of multiple serf castes, bound to the ship by family, possession and profession. Only the command crew changed from time to time, as the ship travelled a relatively safe route from the Great Cloud to the Drusus Marches. Drusus' family, the Paternostras, were associated with the clergy aboard the Fair Virgin Elynn and served the Pontifex Astra Harun Bellomo. Paternostras were craftsmen all and their main products were the prayer beads and rosaries. Pontifex Astra Harun, as his predecessor, had held the Paternostras in high regard for their crafts were very beautiful and very unique tokens which almost every crew member aboard Fair Virgin Elynn held in his or her arm. The Paternostra rosaries were something Harun Bellomo was proud of, as the spiritual liege of the vessel, and he personally patronised some of the more expensive materials used in the most elaborate rosaries such as Ravanese pearls, sunburst agates, artificial diamonds of Lo and even bones of holy men. Harun Bellomo took a special interest on Drusus Paternostra, who joined his father from a young age when presenting the newest and finest rosaries to the Pontifex Astra. Even with the special interest of Pontifex Astra, the Paternostras lived humbly in poor conditions in the crew quarters near the conveyor's stern. Mutations and malformations within the crew were somewhat common, much of the water used by the crew was irradiated or otherwise toxic due heavy metals and acids in it, mecidal facilities were nonexistant and inbreeding within the small population was a serious problem. Drusus Paternostra suffered from aortic stenosis from a very young age, possibly triggered by high acidity levels, and he was sickly, tired and wan. A medicae personnel in 88 Tanstar navy depot fixed Drusus by replacing his heart with an artificial one but not before his physical development had suffered. He was pale - even paler than the void-borns usually are, gaunt, frail and constantly tired. After the heart bionic, Drusus began to recover and his cheerful attitude was liked by many aboard Fair Virgin Elynn. Youth At the age of 13, after the bionic heart transfer, Drusus joined his father's enterprise as an apprentice. Drusus' father was displeased by Drusus' lack of skills, Drusus was also very slow to learn and the amount of expensive material he destroyed was intolerable. Self-flagellation became important part of his daily rutines. As the craftsman's skills were seemingly beyond Drusus' abilities, his father arranged him a place within the Pontifex Astra's office. There Drusus took care of Pontifex Astra Harun Bellomo's papers and data-slates and attended the old preacher in many important matters, learning all about the Ecclesiarchy while doing so. Harun Bellomo had great interest towards the Emperor's Tarot and divination was one of the few hobbies he could afford some time. As Harun Bellomo introduced Drusus to the Emperor's Tarot, he became suspicious about the boy's true nature, for his divinations were usually extremely accurate and more precise than the common, undetailed and approximate divinations made with the Tarot. News about the mutant uprisings on Tranch reached the Fair Virgin Elynn too, for Tranch was on its regular route. By the pressure of Cardinal Kregory Hestor of the Drusus Marches, Pontifex Astra Harun Bellomo launched a propaganda program on Fair Virgin Elynn which preached against the mutants and their right to live. Captain of the ship launched full scale seek-and-destroy operation within the ship after it received boarding troops from the 88 Tanstar navy depot. Blast doors were closed and the sections of the ship were isolated as the troops purged all visibly mutated during the following fifteen days. Stench of promethium and burning flesh filled the ship and over twelve thousand crew members were killed during the operation. All the while Drusus was attending the old preacher in his chambers, far from the screams, the smoke and the horrors of Imperial Creed. The purge of Fair Virgin Elynn's crew did not serve anyone. Mutations found aboard were not chaotic by their nature but merely disorders and disablements from the lack of hygiene and sufficiently nurtured food, and exposure to chemicals and heavy metals aboard the modest living quarters of the serfs. Many felt their rights and way of living violated by the actions of the Imperial Navy yet many felt finally safe and were grateful of the captain's actions. As a sort of a compensation for the families on Fair Virgin Elynn - now mocked as the Red Virgin Elynn - Pontifex Astra Harun Bellomo arranged a new route for the ship. Stopping at the hive world of Lo, ship took over three hundred thousand pilgrims in addition to its regular manufactorum products from the Loi Metalworks Armoury and travelled to the shrine world of Sentinel. Drusus Paternostra attended Harun Bellomo as the preacher's armiger, while taking the pilgrimage to the Shrine of Saint Drusus. In the following years, by the request of Harun Bellomo, Fair Virgin Elynn changed from its common route and took a route of the pilgrimage within the Drusus Marches, travelling to the shrine world of Veneris and then to Maccabeus Quintus. On Maccabeus Quintus the captain agreed to transfer a group of the members of the Black Order to the world of Tranch, now engulfed in the mutant wars. Witch Hunter When the Fair Virgin Elynn reached Tranch, the members of the Black Order were transferred on planet as agreed where they took part in the wars as the Frateris Militia. The initial fighting was, however, already over and few groups boarded the Fair Virgin Elynn in order to get to the 88 Tanstar from where they could advance further. Amongst those who boarded the ship in Tranch was Witch Hunter Werner "Palepurge" Carrock who had gathered some fame on Tranch when hunting the rogue psykers of the Pale Throng. Pontifex Astra Harun Bellomo arranged some time for such renowned witch hunter of the Ministorum and as a token of good will and hope for better tomorrow, preacher fetched Drusus Paternostra to present the witch hunter with a rosary of his choice. Werner Carrock's suspicions about Drusus' nature rose instantly yet he did not wish to insult the preacher by accusing him to have rogue psykers as his servants. Therefore the witch hunter took one of the rosaries and started to shadow Drusus Paternostra. If the young man hadn't been so well associated with the Pontifex Astra, Werner Carrock would surely have captured him in an instant and burned him publicly. Drusus himself was completely unaware of the potential danger witch hunter posed to his existance, but as he never willingly used his psychic talents, witch hunter's servoskulls scanned the boy with psyocculums day and night without catching him in act. One day, the witch hunter heard that the Pontifex Astra's young associate was a skilled diviner with the Emperor's Tarot. Werner arranged himself a new audience with Harun Bellomo and requested if there was a diviner to give him advice about what the future held for him. Pontifex Astra called for Drusus who flexed his skills in cartomancy with a certain pride. As he started, the psyocculums turned red and when the eight cards were on tableEight cards were set in the Connezzan Pyramid, most popular form with the Connerie deck. On the first row: eight of Executeria. Second row: Ecclesiarch, Squire of Mandatio, Ten of Executeria. Third row: Knight of Executeria, four of Discordia, Squire of Executeria and Shattered World., the witch hunter captured him. For the next few weeks Werner Carrock tortured Drusus Paternostra, trying to make him confess his unsanctified usage of psychic powers, but Drusus did not admit it. Pontifex Astra called witch hunter's actions a folly and demanded Werner to release Drusus Paternostra. The witch hunter locked himself into his quarters and demanded protection from the captain of the vessel, who was reluctant to offer it as his own preacher, Harun Bellomo, had reassured him that Drusus was not a psyker. When the Fair Virgin Elynn arrived at 88 Tanstar, the ship was boarded by a delegate from the Adeptus Astra Telepathica's Black Ship who demanded the witch hunter and his "prize". As is the case with free agents such as the witch hunters, Werner Carrock was unwilling to give the rogue psyker Drusus Paternostra to the Black Ships but wished for more abundant glorification and compensation from the agents of Ecclesiarchy. As the Adeptus Astra Telepathica agents tried to result in force, psychic one, they found witch hunter well prepared and his hexagrammic wards countered the initial control attempts. Usage of psychic powers made the crowd gathered restless and the mob attempted to seize the agents from the Black Ship. Chaos and havok made the witch hunter also to grasp his weapons and as the gunfire began to echo in the halls, Navy guard of the Fair Virgin Elynn attempted to put down a chaos, which seemed like a crew uprising and fired to the crowd. Gunfire, chaos and anti-psyker rounds fired by the witch hunter caused one of the Black Ship agents to falter, and with a sudden flash of blood, gore and splintered bones, he became possessed. A hulking blood-red monster with three shark-like heads, each pouring bunch of writhing tentacles fell on the ground and began its unholy feast upon the completely panicked mob that tried to escape the hangar from any hatch possible. More thrush-sized shark-headed birds flew from within the extruding monster spawned in the hangar, each of them hunting the completely horror-stricken crowd. Captain of the Fair Virgin Elynn checked his cameras and spurted mouthfull of sweet vintage wine from the agri world Spectoris all over his control panels. Hastily he grasped his vox casters hailing the space station he had docked and the Imperial Navy troops stormed the daemon-inhabited hangar. Witch hunter Werner Carrock had been gorged by the shark-beast and his tentacle-bursting remains walked on their own all over the hangar. When the Navy troops came to the hangar, one of the troopers stumbled to Drusus who reached for the frightened trooper and pleaded for release from his anti-psyker bindings. Trooper cut him free, shot the locks and pointed towards the docking-bridge. Imperial Navy The navy troopers who boarded Fair Virgin Elynn failed to kill the warp-spawn which soon gorged major parts of the ship, roaming free in its corridors and littering it with its warp-ectoplasm and bird-like descendants. Pontifex Astra Harun Bellomo, with the ship's astropaths and all active clergy members managed to finally banish the monster by luring it into a banishment circle after playing cat and mouse with it for a few days. Inquisitor Rasha Crae from Ordo Malleus arrived hastily three days later, sanctified the remains, purged forty one thousand crew members with promethium and wrote a report of a job well done to the Tricorn Palace. Pontifex Astra Harun Bellomo was questioned and then burned alive and all the astropaths were impaled by Inquisitor Rasha's power stakes. Drusus Paternostra escaped the event mostly unscathed and from the space station he ventured on the 88 Tanstar and joined the Navy depot as a menial. His pale skin and visible anxiety in the open spaces soon gave him away as a void-born and he was assigned into the space station. Drusus worked on the space station of 88 Tanstar for a few years before his skills in the forbidden, but openly practiced, aquila lander races around the space station were noted by a visiting admiral of the Battlefleet Calixis. Soon Drusus found himself on the Dictator class cruiser Storm of Dominance piloting a fury interceptor. Aboard the Storm of Dominance Drusus, who had now began to use his alias "Tristan Poindextra", fought in number of skirmishes against the Eldar pirates. After two years of service, he was honored with the rank of Squadron Sergeant. After his daring rescue of a stranded astropath on a crippled faustus interceptor he was appointed to the 32nd Faustus Interceptor Squadron and transferred to the Exorcist Grand Cruiser Bellephoron which was a long-range patrol vessel assigned in the far reaches of Malfian sub-sector. There, aboard Bellephoron, Drusus served for five years, attaining the rank of Wing Commander and was appointed as the commander of the 32nd. Drusus' experience with the long-range patrol ships and especially the faustus interceptors, important to the lone Imperial Navy vessels, had not gone unnoticed and he and his whole squadron are requisitioned from the Bellephoron to the Port Wander. Drusus became famed on Port Wander after he succesfully outwitted the raiding Ork fleet and he was appointed to the Port Wander as Midshipman. He was not, however, a tactical genius and after he failed to pass the officer tests he was sent back to the interceptor wings. After few years of service under the naval commander of Port Wander he was reassigned to his old home vessel, Bellephoron, as a pilot assistant. He proved himself as a capable pilot but was again reassigned into the Port Wander after he requested it. After having served for twelve years in the Imperial Navy he was again tested for officer position but failed the tests again. Some of the wing commanders began to call him Tristan "Twice" Poindextra or Tristan Disappoindextra, yet none could deny his skill with the space craft. Drusus continued as a wing captain of the 32nd Faustus Interceptor Squadron on Port Wander. Many younger skilled pilots came and went through his squadron and surpassed him in rank. In the Sunburst Raid, conducted by a daring Eldar corsair group upon the conveyors of Port Wander itself, Drusus held a position of Wing Commander once again but after the raid was demoted to his position as a wing captain of the 32nd. House Lucerne After having served for twenty years in the Battlefleet Calixis, Drusus retired and he was offered a patch of land in the agri world Bilani but he refused it, took the money instead and headed for Footfall. Having long heard and listened the stories about the Koronus Expanse, Drusus wanted to see it himself. After reaching Footfall he was quickly recruited by Rogue Trader Sacha Lucrece Lucerne who had heard of a retired navy member. Drusus joined Rogue Trader Lucerne and for few years he worked aboard the Hammer of the Void and joined the rogue trader's scavenge journeys on couple long-dead human colonies in the Koronus Expanse. Drusus received a fair payment for his services on the Hammer of the Void. However, he felt that the safe methods of Rogue Trader Lucerne were not thrilling enough so he left the service of house Lucerne. After few months, he heard about the arrival of the Black Legend, flagship of Rogue Trader Ferdinand Bismarck Machiavelli. After seeking an audience with the rogue trader, he was hired by the house Machiavelli. House Machiavelli There is a game going on... May be continued. Appearance As a void-born, Drusus has pale skin which easily gives away his origins. His hairline began to draw when he turned thirty and grey when he turned forty. Aging a little over forty standard Terran years and having served most of his life in the Imperial Navy, Drusus is in relatively good shape. His bionic heart gives him surprising stamina and endurance. He favors his old Navy Security armor, which is stripped off of the Navy insignia, and pilot's cap. Abilities and Traits Drusus Paternostra is a wyrdling mutant. He was taught to use the Emperor's Tarot by Pontifex Astra Harun Bellomo and has since paid great emphasis on the divination from the cards. He is also gifted with hazy foresight and aura reading, making him to be much more aware of his surroundings than he might seem to be. Partially because his foresight abilities but more so because of his natural curiosity, he is very attentive and observant, able to spot minor details from his surroundings and from monitors he needs to work with. Equipment *Handcannon *Power Sword *The Emperor's Tarot - deck from the Great Cloud, this Connerie deck contains 25 majors and 56 minors divided into four suits of 10 numbers and 4 faces. *Paternostra rosary from the starship Fair Virgin Elynn Notes This article is created from a character set in the Fantasy Flight Games' Rogue Trader role playing game. Therefore all canon references within Calixis may or may not be accurate according to the way the campaigns fold out. References Category:Characters Category:Imperial Characters Category:Psykers